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An Oakland, California, community is in shock after repeatedly seeing groups of suspected prostitutes and human trafficking victims reportedly soliciting outside a Catholic grade school.
"I get the call saying, 'Mr. Gallo, I can't get into my home because the pimp is blocking my driveway,'" Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo told ABC 7 of the weekly calls he receives from residents in East Oakland. "It's constant."
The Oakland Police Department is beefing up patrols outside the K-8 St. Anthony Catholic School after parents and school leaders sounded the alarm on the young, scantily clad women and girls they see walking near East 15th Street in Oakland.
Last week, ABC 7 reported that as parents arrived at the grade school on Monday morning, a suspected prostitute was already near the school, apparently soliciting right in front of the school’s gate. However, the scene is not uncommon.
This view shows the entrance to St. Anthony Catholic School in Oakland, California. (Google Maps)
"It's every day, during all periods of the day," local mother Rosa Vargas told the outlet.
Vargas said the women are typically wearing skimpy outfits, even sometimes naked, and often standing right in front of the gate of the school. Pimps have even followed Vargas down the street on a couple of occasions, she said.
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Nearby International Boulevard has long been plagued with prostitution and other crimes, but construction on East 12th Street has pushed the prostitutes into residential neighborhoods, ABC 7 reported.
East 15th Street near St. Anthony Catholic School in Oakland, California. (Google Maps )
Some of the girls are only 15 or 16 years old, according to Gallo, which has set off concerns of human trafficking.
"We've seen up to 20 women walking up and down this street," Gallo said. "Young, young girls."
Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo (City of Oakland)
Rodney Pierre-Antoine, who oversees a network of local Catholic elementary schools, including St. Anthony, said police are left in a tough spot to take care of the situation, citing a recently enacted bill that prohibits officers from arresting people on the suspicion of prostitution.
"Their hands are somewhat handcuffed," said Pierre-Antoine.
The bill, authored by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, was aimed at protecting transgender women whom Wiener said are disproportionately targeted by police. The law took effect on Jan. 1.
Local police have since sounded off that the bill prevents them from rescuing young girls who have been trafficked, ABC 7 reported.
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"That is absolutely dead wrong. SB 357 has been in effect for 30 days; this problem has been around a lot longer. So, I think it's a cop-out frankly for the police to say this law, which is brand new, is preventing them from doing anything," Wiener told ABC7 when asked about concerns from police.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener (Scott Wiener)
Wiener told Fox News Digital on Monday morning that the situation playing out in Oakland is "unacceptable" but that it is "not the result of SB 357."
"The situation on International Boulevard is unacceptable, but it is not the result of SB 357, a bill that attracted support from a broad coalition, [including] California’s leading human rights organizations." Wiener said in a statement. "Activity in this area apparently began to rise over the summer, months before my bill came into effect and perfectly timed with nearby road construction that pushed sex workers out of their usual territory and into this adjacent residential area."
After the outlet reported concerns over human trafficking and prostitution near the school, the FBI said it will install additional surveillance cameras in the area, according to Gallo. An official with the FBI added in a comment to ABC7 that the suspected trafficking might be gang related.
"In many large cities, you have places that's called the stroll or the walk, this is where the transaction is taking place," said Robert Tripp, the special agent in charge for the FBI's San Francisco division.
"Usually the trafficker and the person in charge are one in the same," Tripp said. "This crime depends so much on the relationship between the abuser and the victim. It's a very compact chain of command."
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Sources told the outlet that the FBI already picked up one 13-year-old girl off of East 15th Street.
Gallo said he accompanied police on a ride-along to witness the prostitution and saw a van with Nevada plates roll into the area early in the morning and leave at night.
Police investigate a fatal shooting on 14th Street near Broadway in downtown Oakland, California, on Sept. 20, 2022. (Jane Tyska / Digital First Media / East Bay Times via Getty Images)
"When I was out on the street with police on a ride-along, I saw the van pull up, and I saw license plates from Nevada. They were being brought up from outside Nevada. ... I saw five, six girls get out of the van," Gallo said.
"Eight o'clock in the evening, I saw them all get back into the van, drive on, and we followed them, and they went on the freeway and went on," said Gallo.
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Fox News Digital reached out to St. Anthony and the FBI on Monday morning but did not immediately receive replies for additional comment.
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